Fedora aims cloudwards with Beefy Miracle release

As promised by the new Fedora boss Robyn Bergeron, version 17 of the Fedora Linux build aka "Beefy Miracle" is looking towards the cloud, with an update to OpenStack and new virtualization tools, as well as adding a spiffy new Gnome 3.4 interface.

OpenStack gets an upgrade to the "Essex" build, including the most recent versions of the "Horizon" web management interface and "Quantum" virtual networking system. The code now supports multiple virtual disk formats and Open vSwitch is included to manage software switching. There's full compatibility with Amazon EC2 and the OpenNebula infrastructure-as-a-service platform has been added.

Five Red Hat developers have also contributed oVirt, an open server virtualization management system with live migration support and advanced storage management and scheduling. Fedora 17 also beefs up its virtualization chops with better load balancing and availability management. JBoss Application Server 7 and Java 7 are also included.

"The addition of projects such as oVirt and JBoss Application Server 7, enhancements in OpenStack, and continued support for fresh releases of desktop environments demonstrate the Fedora Project's commitment to deliver rich features and capabilities," said Bergeron, Fedora project leader, in a statement. "This, combined with our leading-edge innovations at the operating-system level, truly makes Fedora 17 a comprehensive and robust operating system for all types of users."

Beefy Miracle is running the full Gnome 3.4 interface, which will run on hardware without a native 3D driver and also supports the XInput touch-screen interface code – but KDE 4.8 and XFCE are also supported. The latest GIMP 2.8 image manipulation code is included, as is LibreOffice 3.5.0.3. So far Fedora's estimating around 38 million users and will continue on its six-monthly release cycle.

If you're wondering about the name by the way, Beefy Miracle is the nickname of the animations used by the Anaconda installer in Fedora and was chosen by popular vote in accordance with Fedora tradition. Bergeron has confirmed that version 18 will be dubbed "Spherical Cow." ®